Sweetheart Photo of the Month

The month is only half way over but, nobody's going to top this lady.

I just got back from a weekend, shooting hundreds of photos in northern Okinawa.

Some high-powered ceremonies brought me and the cameras there.

Finding cultural and historical treasures to photograph is fun.

And, I know plenty of people come here to see what new discoveries I have made.

Nothing I did all weekend was as exciting as meeting this gal.

The rest of the stuff can just wait.

Meet, Chiyoko Aragaki.

She's the mother of seven children and grandmother of thirteen.

And, she is a great grandmother of two.

She has to be the most energetic and happy person, I've met, in all my years, traveling this island.

It isn't polite, to give a lady's age away.  So, I won't.

But, I can tell you, she has seen more birthdays than the number 76.

And, she can still make the wheels spin on a motorbike.

What more could a man want, in a woman ?

The smiles she gives everyone, are heart warming and sincere.

They brightened up a day that turned out to be wet and windy and, that's not all.

Soon, I'll have to go back and deliver something to her.

Chiyoko Aragaki, signed a model release for me.

So, I owe her a printed photo. And, I want more of that contagious smile !



July 2013 Full Moon Will Appear Tomorrow Night

Get Your Cameras or Telescopes Ready

 

Tonight around 7PM I was taking practice shots with the tripod and the Pentax.

If the weather doesn't change much, the full moon should be easy pickings tomorrow.

With a clear sky and just a slight breeze this photo was taken at my front door steps.

Some sweetheart of an elderly gal came along and asked what I was doing.

So, I enlarged a shot on the LCD screen and showed her the moon.

She got all excited and said, "See the rabbit ?"

Well, just out of respect I said, "Of course."

Then she started asking me stuff like, how much money I make with the camera.

And, she wanted to know if I was married or, single.

So, I told her, I'd keep her in mind if I ever need another wife, just to be polite.

I gave her a little hug and she went cackling on down the street.

Then, I got all my stuff back in the office and pulled down the shutter.

Here's the Goodies on Tomorrow's Full Moon

 

 

 

The Old Farmer's Almanac calls it a Full Buck or, Thunder Moon

NBC News says it will be a stunner

About the Rabbit on the Moon

For those who fancy that astrology stuff, I give this video from Astrologer Coach:

Check with your local weather station for moonrise.

It should appear the same time as the sun sets because that's what the full moon likes to do.

Travel Photo: View of Ie-jima Island from Bise

Here is a photo taken at Bise on the Motobu Peninsula of Okinawa.

Every time we pass through the Village of Bise, I have to stop by and visit my sweetheart.

Map It Okinawa and I really went there to look for Seahawks.

The normal term, I use for them is "Ospreys".

But, Seahawks or, Sea Eagles will have to do because lots of folks are riled these days.

They have some contraption flying around, over here, called ospreys, too.

People don't like those ospreys so, I'm taking the word of the bird out of my vocabulary.

Sea Eagles, Seahawks or Taka, (Japanese word for Hawk) is what I'll be using.

Anyway, back to that travel photo.  The Sweetheart gal, left her shop.

She just leaves the place wide-open and follows us down to the beach.  What a gal.  Huh ?

One of the big bonuses we get living around here is honest people.

Nobody is minding the store when she walks away for half an hour and that's OK.

When she gets back there won't be anything missing.

She's a real nice gal and I like her.  She wanted some photos of Ie-jima from that spot.

The light didn't suit me.  I told her I'd have to shoot from there sometime in early morning light.

I didn't say "Scram" or anything like that.  She just knew what I was thinking.

So, off she went to see the Map It Okinawa Dude.

WHAT A SWEETHEART  !

More about this treasure of a lady may be seen in Then and Now

Visit my website for today's Feature Photo

Flower Photo: Melastoma. Heck, Just Call It Forest Star

Here is a new flower, to me, anyway.

At a museum up north in Okinawa, Japan on a cold and windy February day is where I found this.  See, I get tired of hanging around inside museums trying to make photos under the harsh indoor lighting. So, I step outside a lot.  That gives me a chance to see what's worth shooting outdoors, get some fresh air and a l'il bit of nicotine in my body.  So, that's what I do a lot.

The museum photos, I'll get around to developing and posting later.  There may even be some great shots.  There was this sweetheart of a gal at the place.  She turned off lights for me when I asked.  You don't find many museums like that these days.

Well, this gal showed me this tree thing with pink flowers growing on it and she told me they are called "Nobotan".

So,  I shot them.

The research I did online didn't help much but, I came to the conclusion they are some kind of Melastoma.

There are a whole bunch of places, like Hawaii, that don't like Melastomas.

People call them invasive.  And, they call them weeds.

Even Wikipedia !


But, this sweetheart of a gal was real proud of the pretty pink flowers and they don't seem like weeds to me. 

One of the names Wikipedia had listed was Forest Starr.

Not sure if that's a person or a flower name.  They're asking for help expanding everybody's knowledge about flowers, too.

What the heck.  The flowers in Okinawa aren't weeds.

Just call these pink flowers Forest Stars.

That's what I'm gonna do.

Then and Now: An Okinawan Sweetheart (Photos)

Yup, I got her permission.  Nope, I ain't givin her name away.

Here is a photo of this gal, I met up in Bise Okinawa, Japan.

It was taken, probably, before colored film became popular and maybe, before it was even invented.

Let's just say this picture is from way back then.

And here's a photo of the little sweetheart now.

You know, a gentleman doesn't ask a lady her age.  So, I did.

But, I aint givin that away, either.

Let's just say somewhere around ahem, ahum, not any younger than me.

See the island in this photo?

That'd be IeShima.  It's the island I went to for the Easter Lily Festival.

The gal in the photos above modeled for an airline poster with that island in the background.

That was way back then.  She promised to go and strike the same pose for me at the same location for a Then and Now Series I'm putting together.  Wouldn't that be cool?

Whaddya Think I Called Her A Sweetheart For?

More Then and Now Photos